On August 7, 2012, The Washington Times ran an editorial entitled,
“The Civil War of 2016.” It begins, “Imagine Tea Party extremists
seizing control of a South Carolina town and the Army being sent in to
crush the rebellion. This farcical vision is now part of the discussion
in professional military circles.
“At issue is an article in the respected Small Wars Journal titled
‘Full Spectrum Operations in the Homeland: A “Vision” of the Future.’ It
was written by retired Army Col. Kevin Benson of the Army’s University
of Foreign Military and Cultural Studies at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., and
Jennifer Weber, a Civil War expert at the University of Kansas. It
posits an ‘extremist militia motivated by the goals of the “tea party”
movement’ seizing control of Darlington, S.C., in 2016, ‘occupying City
Hall, disbanding the city council and placing the mayor under house
arrest.’ The rebels set up checkpoints on Interstate 95 and Interstate
20 looking for illegal aliens. It’s a cartoonish and needlessly
provocative scenario.
“The article is a choppy patchwork of doctrinal jargon and liberal
nightmare. The authors make a quasi-legal case for military action and
then apply the Army’s Operating Concept 2016-2028 to the situation. They
write bloodlessly that ‘once it is put into play, Americans will expect
the military to execute without pause and as professionally as if it
were acting overseas.’ They claim that ‘the Army cannot disappoint the
American people, especially in such a moment,’ not pausing to consider
that using such efficient, deadly force against U.S. citizens would
create a monumental political backlash and severely erode government
legitimacy.”
The Times editorial goes on to say, “The scenario presented in Small
Wars Journal isn’t a literary device but an operational lay-down
intended to present the rationale and mechanisms for Americans to fight
Americans. Col. Benson and Ms. Weber contend, ‘Army officers are
professionally obligated to consider the conduct of operations on U.S.
soil.’ This is a dark, pessimistic and wrongheaded view of what military
leaders should spend their time studying.”
See The Washington Times editorial at:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/aug/7/the-civil-war-of-2016/
I well remember when my friend LT CDR Ernest “Guy” Cunningham
conducted his “Combat Arms Survey” to 300 active-duty Marines at the
USMC’s Air-Ground Combat Center, Twentynine Palms, California, back on
May 10, 1994. A couple of questions in this survey were especially
revealing (and startling). John McManus picks up the story at this
point: “One of the questions asked the Marines if they would be willing
to be assigned to a ‘national emergency police force’ within the U.S.
under U.S. command. The survey showed that 6.0 percent strongly
disagreed, 6.3 percent disagreed, 42.3 percent agreed, 43.0 percent
strongly agreed, and 2.3 percent had no opinion.”
Commenting on these results, Cunningham said, “Do you realize that
85.3 percent agreed with assigning troops to a mission that violates the
Posse Comitatus Act?” Remember, these were active duty Marines back in
1994.
Responses to another question were even more startling. Cunningham’s
question: “Consider the following statement: I would fire upon U.S.
citizens who refuse or resist confiscation of firearms banned by the
U.S. government.” The result: “42.3 percent strongly disagreed with this
statement; 19.3 percent disagreed; 18.6 percent agreed; 7.6 percent
strongly agreed; and 12.0 percent had no opinion.” This equates to
approximately 61% of Marines saying they would defy orders to turn their
weapons on US citizens in order to disarm them; 26% saying they would
not disobey such orders; and 12% refusing to say one way or the other,
which means you could probably add them to the 26% who would not disobey
orders to turn their weapons on American citizens.
See McManus’ report at:
http://jpfo.org/articles-assd/29palms-mcmanus.htm
Speaking of Commander Cunningham, back in 2009, he told me that
America was entering “The Age of Despotism.” Cunningham is no slouch. He
was a Green Beret (who served in the same Special Forces Company
alongside his father and two brothers), an infantryman with the 101st
Airborne Division, Navy pilot, mission commander and analyst. He is also
the author of the previously mentioned Twentynine Palms Survey. His
military credentials are unassailable. When Commander Cunningham speaks,
people should listen.
Commander Cunningham shared his insight with me into the stranglehold
that the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) holds over the U.S.
military by estimating that “75% of military admirals and generals with
two stars or more have been trained by the CFR.”
In supporting his ominous conclusion that America was entering “The
Age of Despotism,” Cunningham noted former President Bill Clinton’s
introduction of PDD 25 (a Presidential Directive that is still in
place), which reportedly authorizes the President to use and declare
martial law at any time, for any reason. He reminded me of how the US
military has been used several times for action on US soil.
The US military was used directly in the government attack against
the Branch Davidians at the private residence of Mount Carmel outside
Waco, Texas. The military was stationed outside Los Angeles, California,
during the LA riots. The military was used in New Orleans after
Hurricane Katrina. The military even patrolled the streets of the tiny
town of Geneva, Alabama, after a man went on a short, albeit bloody,
shooting spree.
Commander Cunningham also reminded me of how President George W. Bush
virtually expunged Posse Comitatus and set the table for despotism and
martial law by signing the USA Patriot Act into existence. As a result,
we now have an entire Army division (NorthCom) assigned to the American
homeland, a first in US history. He noted that even FEMA has the
authority to declare martial law.
Add the advent of NDAA 2012 and 2013, which authorizes the federal
government to seize and incarcerate American citizens on American soil
without court order, legal representation, or any other
constitutionally-protected right–and now Col. Benson’s treatise that
military officers should be prepared to turn their weapons on American
citizens–and Cunningham’s prognostication seems even more accurate.
All over America, NorthCom is currently engaging in urban military
training exercises, including right here in my backyard in Northwest
Montana. Given Col. Benson’s treatise, people are justifiably concerned
as to what the actual purpose of these exercises might be. Plus, if you
are paying attention to what both President Obama and President Wannabe
Mitt Romney are saying, both of these gentlemen seem all-too-content to
continue to swell the scope of military interventionism into domestic
law enforcement duties.
Of course, the problem is the military do not operate under the same
rules of engagement as do domestic law enforcement agencies. There are
no constitutional rights and protections at play when military personnel
target an enemy, which is why America’s founders were absolutely
adamant that military personnel never be used against the American
citizenry. And with the way the above-mentioned recently enacted laws
read, an “enemy” is anyone the President (or any subordinate he
authorizes) says is the enemy. And remember, this is the same federal
government that has recently categorized people who voted for Ron Paul,
Bob Barr, or yours truly, people who are pro-life, people who believe in
the Second Coming of Christ, veterans of the Iraq and Afghan wars,
people who oppose the New World Order, etc., as “extremists,”
“dangerous,” etc. Does all this mean when the President (any President)
adds the word “enemy” to the lexicon that NorthCom plans to order
military troops to turn their weapons against us? It would appear that
Col. Benson believes this is true.
Think of it: in the name of the 9-11 attacks, the United States is
being transformed into the kind of despotic countries that we are told
we are being protected from!
I would be very interested to know what the answers would be among
our nation’s military personnel if CDR Cunningham were to give his
Twentynine Palms survey today!
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